Aug. 19, 2008
Fruit Juices Block Common Drugs
Grapefruit, Orange, Apple Juices Decrease Absorption of Many Often-Used Drugs
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(CBS/iStockphoto)
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Video Archive Eye On Health CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook examines various health issues and treatments.
In 1991, David G. Bailey, PhD, and colleagues found that grapefruit juice increased blood concentrations of the blood pressure drug Plendil to possibly dangerous levels. Grapefruit juice, they later learned, slows down a key liver enzyme that clears Plendil - and about 40 other drugs - from the body.
Now Bailey reports that grapefruit, orange, and apple juices decrease the absorption of several important medications:
"This is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm sure we'll find more and more drugs that are affected this way," Bailey says in a news release.
Bailey revealed the new findings in a report to the 236th annual meeting of the American Chemical Society.
A substance in grapefruit juice called naringin seems to be the culprit. The compound apparently blocks OATP1A2, a transporter molecule in the gut, which carries some drugs from the small intestine into the blood. Orange juice contains hesperidin, a naringin-like substance. The culprit in apple juice remains unidentified.
"The concern is loss of benefit of medications essential for the treatment of serious medical conditions," Bailey says.
In their studies, Bailey and colleagues had healthy volunteers take fexofenadine with either a glass of grapefruit juice, a glass of water mixed with naringin, or pure water. Taking the drug with grapefruit juice or the naringin mixture halved the amount of drug that reached the bloodstream.
People should take their pills only with water, advises Bailey, a professor of clinical pharmacology at the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. He suggests that people taking medications should check with their doctor or pharmacist before taking medications with fruit juices or whole fruits.
By Daniel DeNoon
Reviewed by Louise Chang
©2005-2008 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
The antibiotic "Cipro" is for "serious" infections. If you ever have a need for it, I think that you would choose it over fruit juice. Because whatever you have got, it ain''t going away without it. Cipro is one of the drugs they give you for Anthrax and you can drink juice all your life and it isn''t going to protect you from that.
It has long been known that Grapefruit Juice will screw up women''s birth contol pills, as well as many other drugs.
Isn''t there a street marbles competition you could be reporting on somewhere, in some back alley ?
Yes, the article says that fruit juices block the absorption of some drugs.
However, as stated in the second paragraph, it`s been known for almost 20 years that grapefruit juice permits the absorption of other drugs but interferes with their metabolism and excretion, which can cause the buildup of toxic levels in the blood of the patient.
Gee, it couldn''t be possible that half the garbage that Dr''s. try to stuff down people could be made from putrid Wart Hog dung, fish entrails and Musk Ox genitals??
Sweet dreams America, oh, and give that kid a pill will you? He is starting to act intelligent.
For your sake I''''m going to assume you are ten years old or are mentally challenged. Now go ask momma to put some juice in your sippy cup and it will all be better.
Posted by bud28dy
Gosh golly, that''s so *** funny.
That fruit juice blocks their action is only good, as it shows that fruit juices do play a part in keeping the body healthy, even if that means that it also hinders the "controlled toxins'' from doing their job.
I posit that if we all eat more fruit and drank more fruit juices, a lot of illnesses wouldn''t attack us to begin with.
For your sake I''m going to assume you are ten years old or are mentally challenged. Now go ask momma to put some juice in your sippy cup and it will all be better.
- by August 19, 2008 10:24 PM EDT
- What a simple solutions, don''t take synthetic drugs that are foreign to the body that overworks the liver and kidney, just drink fresh juices with worlds of benefits.
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